Wings of Faith
by Aaron Weaver
Summary: A short story set in a heavily expanded version of Warcraft. Was written to wrap up an unfinished roleplay neatly.


~_Wings of Faith_~

Alicianna Simmons, as she was called at that time, was standing in front of airship docks in Steamwatch Retreat. Despite the fact that the guards had been ordered to kill her on sight, she remained unassailed; they stared vacantly ahead of themselves, fooled by her shadow magic. She looked around frequently to see if her allies were here yet; before arriving herself, she had worked to rouse the alliances she had been making for weeks to action. It was time.

Months ago, Alicianna had heard something whispering out of the dark to her. Something that had warned her that a threat in clothes of light and justice would arrive from another world to extend its dominion in Azeroth until it controlled the entire world.

The voice had refused to be specific. It had given her cryptic clues and led her in the right direction, however, and she had eventually found the name of her enemy; Tiariana Cloudweaver. The god empress of Aerius. Aerius was a realm held in parallel with Azeroth, but yet, it was different. For example, an insane elf ruled the place and nobody seemed to want to stop her... or perhaps they did, but were simply too frightened of her power.

Alicianna knew no such fear. However, she wouldn't be able to defeat Cloudweaver's Crusaders on her own, and so had needed allies. She had begun to gain them on both sides of the veil, and now she was finally ready to make an attack.

She had it on shadows' authority that Cloudweaver was here. In Steamwatch Retreat, Aerius. The town vaguely resembled Gilneas, but with an overlay of machines and mechanical apparatus meshed with the buildings. The ship hovering behind her was powered by steam, but that wasn't how she'd gotten here. She had travelled via shadow- a process as simple as stepping in and then out to her, with her mysterious master to guide her. Passing through the world veil usually caused magic to falter and change, weakening any Azerothian mage who entered Aerius. But shadows were everywhere and Alicianna was only marginally depleted.

At first, it had been a significant worry that her allies might find themselves helpless once through the veil, but she'd eventually taken care of that with enchanted rings designed to allow safe passage.

Alicianna shifted anxiously. This was taking far too long...

Even as she was debating whether or not it was time to disappear, one of her allies popped up next to her. He was a man in black armour, with a large scythe strapped to his back. Delano Darkbane. He nodded at her, and she gave a little wave.

"Well? Are the others coming?"

"They are. There was a delay in the teleportation and I had to reroute it; they will turn up on that ship, behind you."

"...I see."

Alicianna spun around to regard the ship. If her band of insurgents and brigands exploded into being there, it would shock the whole town awake. She began to weave a spell of cloaking around the ship. This would prevent things from becoming too loud, and hopefully wouldn't attract attention. Just as she finished the spell, lights began to blink on board the steamcraft. One by one, her army popped into being in flashes of purple light. They were a jumbled lot; Mortals of all sizes, professions and classes, a band of Forsaken Dark Rangers dispatched to aid her by the Undercity. members of both the Horde and the Alliance. Even some dragons in mortal form found themselves among her rabble.

Alicianna thought for a few seconds. The initial plan, as she had explained to her forces, was to assault the town quickly and quietly to make sure by the time the alarm went off, it would be too late. She decided the same thing would work, but they would have to be much quicker.

She raised her voice. "The plan remains unchanged. We attack. Be quick, be deadly, and be subtle. Avoid using powerful magic until our cover is completely blown!" She drew her sword out of her scabbard. She was clad in black and red leather armour, and a brown cloth cloak. Her bow, an ebony recurve, was strapped to her back, and her sword was made of some chilly black metal. She raised it high.

"What we do today will be remembered forever, brothers and sisters. Tales will be sang of the freedom fighters who shattered the grip of the Empress of Lies. Onward!"

This raised a cheer from the ship. She turned back around. The two crusaders guarding the steamcraft were now beginning to twig something was wrong, but her spell was still in effect. She approached the guard to her left, a male elf in the navy and azure livery of the Crusade, with her sword raised. He blinked at her, then smiled. To him, her sword appeared to be a bunch of roses.

"Oh, for me?" He simpered, in the way that was so typical of elves.

"For you." Confirmed Alicianna, as she came within range and stabbed him in the face with the blade. It broke the fragile bones between his eyes and slid into his head a few centimeters. She twisted brutally and ripped it back out. The guard hit the floor in a streak of blood. Her spell broke.

Next, everything sped up. The other guard, a Human in lightweight armour with two shortswords, charged at her, weapons raised. She spun and dashed one from his hand as he brought it down, leaving herself vulnerable to the second. Before he could murder her, though, a bolt of arcane magic flashed into the side of his body and sent him to a smoking heap. She stepped over his body and ran on down the road.

The Dark Rangers caught up quickly, flanking her on both sides as they had been instructed to by their mistress. Phantom arrows filled the air, cutting down a good half of the guards posted in the town center as they rushed to formation. Alicianna raised her sword and chanted in a language so profane it offended the ears, ordering the shadows to rise. She pumped her own mana through the blade, enforcing the power of the spell. The shade of the statue in the middle of the open space stood up, expanding until it was a three dimensional shape, then it tore into the fourteen surviving crusaders, who had formed rank blocking the road north. Alicianna flicked her sword at an archer to the right of the melee just as he fired his bow at her. A shadow bolt erupted from the edge of her blade and turned the arrow to dust as it flew, then careened into the archer and splattered him against a wall.

The town was arranged on top of several cliffs which themselves were bordered on one side by a line of steeper cliffs still, to the west. To the north lay a circular lake with fell over the cliffs in a waterfall on one side, and further up the governer's manor, which was where Cloudweaver should be. To the south lay a huge manor house, nearly a palace, in construction. Alicianna wanted to move northwards with all possible speed, so she told the Dark Rangers to follow her and then sprinted off over the corpses of the crusaders her shadow had killed. The Rangers streaked after her, bows nocked.

The crusaders were reacting more quickly than Alicianna had banked on. They had formed ranks further up and a cadre of archers had climbed onto the rooftops. Alicianna only had to look at them for a moment before she came up with a suitable plan to break the phalanx.

She and the Dark Rangers moved forward, Alicianna chanting and spinning as she went. When they came within range of arrow fire, Alicianna stopped, then raised her sword into the air.

The Cloudweaver archers fired at her and her allies, who were apparently sitting ducks. Just as the arrows left their bows, a barrier of black and purple smoke billowed up from the ground and deflected them away. Alicianna dug her sword into the ground and kneeled behind it. The leader of the Dark Rangers, Cassandra Nightlash, knelt beside her.

Cassandra's red hair billowed like fire behind her. She turned to look at Alicianna with her glowing red eyes.

"What now, Witch? Sitting here and hiding brings us no closer to killing the Empress."

"I agree. Do you see the archers on the rooftops?"

"I see them." Nodded Cassandra, raising an eyebrow.

"When I phase the barrier, I want you and your sisters to fill them with black arrows. When they turn into skeletons, you can use them to rain hell on the troops holding the street. They'll be caught like rats in a trap And have nowhere to run. But do not be obvious; if you aim before I phase the barrier, the archers might take cover."

Cassandra and her sisters nodded. They all nocked arrows. Alicianna raised three fingers.

Three.

Two.

One.

She drained the energy out of the second process of her barrier spell, turning the wall grey and shimmery. In an instant, the rangers raised their bows and fired, again and again even as the archers on the buildings began to scream. Within ten seconds, every archer was dead with very little return fire to speak of. Alicianna rose, tugging her sword out of the ground, and pointed it forward with her right hand, at the ranks of arranged crusaders, who were now beginning to move forward down the road. She held her left hand over the blade, crossing her wrists, and began chanting something vile in an elder tongue.

The archers were beginning to rise, now. Standing up, tearing their own faces off and picking their weapons up with skeletal, withered fingers. The crusaders were too focused on the rangers and her to notice their former allies' transformations.

Alicianna chanted quickly as the crusaders advanced, gesturing with her left hand to hurry the process. Purple light issued from her hands and from her sword, and black smoke cascaded from the blade's edge onto the ground, where it pooled like a malicious fog.

Just as it seemed they were about to be run over, she finished the spell. With a flick of the wrist, she launched a wall of purple light into the ranks of the crusaders, stunning every one of them for a few seconds and leaving them dizzy and confused even after. For the next few minutes, they would have been unable to recall who they were or what they were supposed to be doing, provided they had lived that long.

Both rangers and archers raised their bows in unison, then unleashed a volley out of hell on the dazzled troopers. Fully every single one of them dropped with an arrow stuck into them. Alicianna nodded to herself, pleased with the success of her tactic, then dashed forward. "Good work! Push the attack! The manor is in sight!"

Indeed, it was coming into view now. It was the tallest building in the town proper, dwarfed only by the manor in construction to the south. The dead archers danced from rooftop to rooftop, jumping the gaps easily due to their light weights. They quickly picked off the few soldiers around the manor. Alicianna's shadows tore the gate off its hinges with a clanging finality.

_**~oOo~**_

To the south, inside the manor house in construction, Empress Tiariana Cloudweaver watched all of this happen on a whirring clockwork screen devised by the Silvershade leader, Moxi. She watched the insolent witch murder her crusaders and watched her horde of undesirable filth vandalise her town, setting it ablaze in places.

The further Alicianna progressed towards the manor to the north, the further the Elf began to quiver in fury. This little bitch had come here, undoubtedly to murder her, and that was too far. It was high time she reminded the world how terrifying Tia Cloudweaver could be in a rage. Several of her servants bustled behind her, organizing things. Malax. Bellegosa. Jaymie. Et cetera. Malax came over to her, and touched her glove.

"Tia...?"

"Malax. Get me my armour. And my hammer." Tia answered in a tone so chilly and cruel that Malax narrowed his eyes. He knew Tia well by this stage, and he knew that that tone meant she was about to do something vicious.

"Of course, Tia, I'll only be a moment."

_**~oOo~**_

Not here.

She had been lied to! The Empress wasn't in the northern manor house at all! After breaking the doors down and ripping the interior up, she had been unable to find a soul inside. She now stood, in the wreckage of the dining room, fists clenched. Cassandra approached from behind.

"She's not here, is she, Alicianna?"

"She.. is not. But I know where she is. We go back south and collect our forces. But I fear we might already be too late."

She turned to leave the building, then paused for a moment. Raising her hands over her head, she started to mutter words of spellcraft quietly, then loudly, whirling her arms around her. Black flames flickered and sparked at her fingertips, then exploded to cover the entire ceiling. Once she was sure the building had caught proper, she strolled out, now smirking.

_**~oOo~**_

This wasn't going well.

Lorcan Oltoir had been in numerous battles in the course of his life and death, but he had never before witnessed such viciousness and savagery from users of the light. The Paladins that had come running from the south, flanked by powerful magi and holy archers, were attacking with the sort of vengeance Lorcan wouldn't expect from the average Forsaken, let alone Elves and Humans. They were almost as brutal as him.

Nobody was quite as brutal as him, of course. He proved this by raising one runeblade at a Paladin, causing his blood to boil and dropping him to the floor, screaming and dying in agony, even as he brutally punched the spiked handleguard of the other into an archer's chest. It puncted the flesh and then the bone, digging in and mortally wounding the fool. The blood that sprayed out empowered the Human Death Knight. It was drained up like dust into the wind as he ran on, animate body unencumbered by light, rust-coloured plate armour. He'd never been one for defense.

He drew on the runes of blood up and down each runeblade as he closed on the main cluster of Paladins. Raising both, he skidded to a halt, then bellowed a word of dark command. The cursed red magic to which he was so accustomed hissed through the air and crashed into the group, blighting the ground beneath them with death and decay. They hopped away, plate nearly melting off of their bodies.

Despite Lorcan's efforts, and the efforts of the many other skilled and dangerous fighters on his side, the battle's tide was turning for the worst. Bodies were piling up, and not enough of them wore Cloudweaver livery. Even as he turned to assault a mage, a bolt of holy energy crashed into him, sending him flying back.

The pain was blinding. It burned through him like he'd been thrown into molten lava. He tried not to scream outright, but the best he could manage was a bellow of agony. He scrambled back to his feet, only to be knocked down again by the responsible Paladin's hammer.

His vision cleared. He looked up into the smiling, Elven face of his executioner. A thousand images flickered across his dead eyes; his mother and father. The farm where he'd been born. His brothers. His first love. The Darkfallen who had murdered him. The battle for Light's Hope. The face of his son, a grown man now, who had survived the fall of Lordaeron.

Lorcan stared back defiantly and waited to die.

But it was not to be. Just as the shadow of death fell over the Death Knight, it picked itself up and became a solid entity, then tore the throat from the Paladin's neck. Blood spurted onto Lorcan's face. He babbled words of horrific magic, absorbing the life force that had just been released and using it to revitalize himself. The shadow, his saviour, flitted away to deal death to another crusader.

All around him, the shadows were moving. Stepping out of their natural place and cutting down the forces of the Crusade of Aerius. Volleys of arrows, bullets and other missiles scythed through the air until the last blue tabard hit the mud.

But, despite Alicianna's turning of the tables, things still looked worse. Over a third of their forces had been killed. Lorcan turned to look at the Witch who had led them here.

Her face was a mask of anger. And when she spoke, there was something powerful and glorious about her voice. Lorcan knew it to be dark magic, but he didn't resist. He wanted to hear the best of this.

"Brothers! Sisters! We have been decieved. Betrayed. By whom I do not know, but the Empress of Treachery was not where we expected her to be. Despite this slighting, we have layed waste to the Crusade of Aerius and now the murderess stands defenseless. Onwards. Let us bring her to account for every innocent life she has stolen. For every attempt at kindness that she has denied to serve her own selfish wishes. ONWARDS!"

_**~oOo~**_

Tiariana was now clad in her shining battlegear. Despite the fact that it looked heavy, it was actually almost weightless, yet tougher than any steel. In her hand, she clenched a massive, purple gemstone warhammer far more easily than an elf of her size should have been able to.

Her servants bustled around her, preparing for the onslaught to come. As she watched them, fury welled up inside her. She had indeed expended quite a few of her troops to try to drive the insurgents out of Steamwatch, but she had a few suprises up her exquisitely tailored sleeve for the tramp to enjoy, nonetheless.

One of her servants, Jaymie Rennard, rambled over to her, with a platter of tea things in his hands. Despite his apparent youth and diminutive size, he had a scoped rifle slung over his shoulder and a frying pan dangling from his belt. Anybody else would have laughed upon being informed that he used that pan as a serious martial weapon, but Tia had seen him use it on a would-be assassin at one stage, and despite her sincere attempts at being snotty, she had never found the idea quite as funny after the mess he'd made.

"Tea, your highness?" Chirped Jaymie, trying to sound optimistic. He snapped his fingers and muttered a simple spell, and the tea began making itself.

Tia didn't bother to gratify him with a reply. Instead, she snapped a cup of tea off the plate. "Extra clouds, idiot."

Jaymie was by now used to torrents of abuse from Tiariana, and nodded, smiling. He pulled a satchet of clouds from the tray, tore the top off and dumped it into her tea. Tia spun neatly, keeping her balance perfectly enough to avoid a drop spilling while she smacked the tray out of his hands with her hammer. It crumpled in two as it fell, then the china shattered on the floor. Everyone in the room stopped and looked, then continued. Violence from the Empress was nothing new.

Jaymie consulted a small device he had found while rooting around Cloudweaver HQ. He looked worried. It was rather difficult to make him look worried, so Tia decided to ask him what was wrong.

"What's wrong with you, Jaymie? Spit it out." She snapped, taking a long sip of her tea.

"Oh, uh, nothing, your highness. They're at the gates, that's all."

Tia spat out her tea into Jaymie's face.

_**~oOo~**_

Alicianna flickered her sword. The gates fell from their hinges with a hiss. She marched through, dauntless, to stand before the manor in which the Empress was supposed to be hiding. Her forces filled in behind her, forming a large mob.

As it happened, the Empress wasn't hiding. She stalked out of a door and onto the balcony over the front porch, strolling up to the railing. With the sun on her back, she was a dark silhouette, lined with light. Alicianna thought that was ironically amusing.

"We're here, Cloudweaver. We're here to burn this place to the ground and bury you in the ashes. You sought to control Azeroth, and to rule it with the same villainy and decadence you so victoriously preside over your own land with. This is our answer. This is what happens. Tyrants dig their own graves."

Tia flicked her head with irritation, ears aquiver. Despite the sun behind her, Alicianna's keen eyes picked out the Empress rolling hers.

"You babble, little girl. I never wanted to control that stinking pit you call a planet. Where would you conjure such absurd nonsense out of?"

"The shadows, of course, just like everything else. If you want to say a force of nature is lying just to spite you, be my guest, but I and all those who came here with me today know your lies. Come down here and face us."

"No."

"Then we'll come and get you."

"I won't let you, sorry."

"You and what army?" Laughed Alicianna.

"That one, of course." Sang Tiariana, and snapped her fingers. The arcane spells she had used to guard a ring of her remaining troops dissipated, revealing them all around Alicianna's mob. The numbers were fairly even. Too even. Every one of Alicianna's insurgents raised some kind of weapon.

"Not laughing now, are we, dear?" Snickered the Elf, tottering in her boots with amusement. "I'm going to go have some tea, now. When you're all dead, I'll come back out just to give your corpse a good kick. Bye."

With that, Tia turned and skipped back into the manor. Without warning, the Crusaders attacked. Alicianna's forces fought back, holding their own, but it was clear that Cloudweaver had them exactly where she wanted them.

Alicianna couldn't let that happen. If they stayed here, even if they won, the Empress would escape. She had to catch up, now. Raising both hands in the air and ignoring the battle, she screamed words of black magic over the melee. The shadows swirled up from the ground and grabbed her and the dark rangers, then withdrew.

_**~oOo~**_

By now, Tiariana had reached the second balcony at the back of the house, and was approaching the stairs to the tower, where her servants were waiting with the tea, and of course, the cupcakes. Ah, how she loved the cupcakes!

She bobbed her head from side to side, nearly dancing to the beat of the melee taking place out front. Then her ears picked up something else.

Just in time, she shouted a prayer. A shield of white light flickered into being around her body as numerous black arrows were fired at her, deflecting them all. She spun round to see Alicianna and several dead elves preparing for another salvo. Her shield couldn't stop many more sprays of that kind of ammunition and she knew it, so instead, she raised her hands and channelled. The wind whipped up into a fury, then a howling whirlwind around her person. As her assailants fired, the wind took the bolts from the air and dashed them on the cliffs below the house.

Chanting, Tia spun and danced, whirling forward like the embodiment of a tornado. The wind followed her example, picking her attackers off their feet and throwing them around in a circle, smashing them into things and onto things. Alicianna dissipated into black smoke before she was impaled on the railings, much to Tia's disappointment.

The Dark Rangers weren't so lucky. The fastest of them managed to control their impacts, but the slower ones ended up speared on various sharp or blunt objects, killing three instantly and leaving a fourth in critical condition.

Cassandra Nightlash attempted to fire her bow at Tia again, but the Empress knocked it from her grasp with a gust of wind, smirking. Cassandra growled at her.

"The Banshee Queen sends her regards, manipulator. She also wishes to plainly state that the Forsaken will never answer to anyone, least of all the likes of you."

"As touching as I find that, I never had any intention of ruling your nasty little kingdom or doing anything to the floozy you call a Queen. Goodbye now, hope we never meet again."

Cassandra cracked Tia a mocking salute with her left hand and flipped her two fingers with her right. "Viva la revolution, fleshbag!" with that, the Dark Ranger captain tore the black ring that bound her to Aerius off her finger and hurled it at Tia, even as her body twisted away into the stream of space and time, along with her sisters, except for the three dead. Their souls had been bound to hers just for this, and with her binding gone, so was theirs. They were all returned to the Undercity in the blinking of an eye.

Tia stepped back as the ring hit the floor. She leaned over slightly to inspect it, then stepped forward and crunched it under her boot. It was _hideous_!

_**~oOo~**_

Out front, the battle was going badly. The remaining fighters were tripping over a carpet of bodies and slipping in a lake of blood. Feeble magic fizzled through the air. Slow and clumsy sword swings slid through the air, glancing off battered armour. This fight was a waste of lives, and they all knew it.

A wordless consensus was reached. The crusaders reformed in front of the manor house, forming a phalanx. The insurgents didn't attack again, instead turning and running. Several of them covered the retreat while others ran away towards the smoking town to the north, then dashed to catch up.

Delano Darkbane, the highest ranking insurgent present, didn't try to stop it. Alicianna and Tiariana were nowhere near, so the outcome of this fight was meaningless. No point wasting lives. Especially not their own. It was down to Alicianna to finish things now. So he strolled away calmly, pulling a bottle of wine and a glass out of nowhere as he did it. Time for a drink.

_**~oOo~**_

Atop the tower, Tiariana was sitting cross-legged on a comfortable, beautifully crafted chair, at an equally ornate table, sipping her tea. She was surrounded by her choicest servants. Bellegosa. Malax. Jaymie. A small handful of others. They were joking and laughing about the joke of an attack that had just taken place. The others believed it was over, that Alicianna had fled with her troops.

Tia knew better. And so she wasn't surprised when the witch strolled up the ramp to the observatory. The others stopped dead, shocked by her re-appearance.

Alicianna regarded them scornfully. She had no patience for those who stood with the Empress, particularly not if they wanted to stop her. She had some sympathy remaining for Malax, but not enough to let him get in the way of what had to be done.

Tia tittered. Alicianna frowned.

"What are you laughing about?"

"You. Your buddies are all gone, and you come up here all alone to attack me again. Your audacity is endearing, for such a bitch."

"I'm sure. And do you think I'd be here if I was worried about your minions?"

Alicianna could see it now. The voice had promised her everything she needed to defeat Cloudweaver, and it was now delivering its greatest gift. In her vision, the world's colour faded. Her awareness stretched out around her, until she could see all. See the insects inside the walls. Hear the tiniest sounds, yet the knowledge did not overwhelm her. It was like seeing through the shadows. But there was something else. White lights flickered and twisted around and inside the bodies of those in front of her, like shining smoke. Colourless light. This was life itself; the divine energy that held their beings together. The magic of the universe than kept their spirits bound to their mortal coils. There was a degree of difference. Almost everyone in the room had a hero's soul; souls which possessed great spiritual strength. Malax, Jaymie and Tia glowed particularly brightly, but Tia put them all to shame. Hers glowed like a miniature sun. Bellegosa's soul was that of a dragon, a whipping thing of calm rage and solace, and altogether different from the mortals around her. All dragon's souls were strong.

The others in the room all had some level of strength. Alicianna knew now what had led them to Tia's side. Not luck. Not the Empress' choice. It was this invisible power. Some people just knew their way, she supposed.

Alicianna's own essence matched Tia's. It was bright at its core, but it darkened into grey and black shadows as the silver light fanned out. Jaymie's had a similar taint, but they were both pure at the core of their spirits.

It was such a pity they all had to die.

Tia gave the word. Alicianna hardly heard it. Her servants all drew weapons or began spells, moving towards her. Alicianna reached out with her newfound power. She reached out and touched her would-be attackers, stealing their souls as easily as pulling daisies from the ground. One by one, they dropped, life forces drained away. Malax. Bellegosa. Jaymie. The rest. All the thuds resounded through the tower like the clanging of a church bell.

Alicianna's vision cleared. The power to pluck souls away without magic was not a cheap thing. She could still see the life whipping around Tia's body. Her senses remained heightened. But the colour faded back in slowly and her hearing returned to normal.

Tia watched all of this clearly. She turned her head to individually watch each of her friends fall, then stood. She kicked the table out of her way, overcome by a silent, calm rage. Tea splattered across the floor.

"Alicianna. Attacking me and wreaking havoc is one thing, but what you just did defies the laws of the universe. You have no right to steal life. Not the way you just did. Put them back. Now."

Alicianna shook her head.

"No."

"Then I have to take them back."

"Come and get them."

And Tia did. She stooped to grab her hammer and charged at Alicianna. The witch flicked her essence out, thinking to take Tia's soul as simply as she'd taken the others.

But it didn't work. Tia was too strong. Souls had strength, and some individuals were guarded. Guarded by a force beyond mortal comprehension from any malignent attempt to influence their spirits. Tia was such an individual. She had, despite her flaws, lived her life well and ruled justly if viciously, and that force now stood invisibly at her side in her hour of need. Her spirit remained exactly where it was. Alicianna couldn't steal it. Nobody could.

Alicianna thought all of this over as the Elf's hammer hit her sideways, spinning her across the room. She tumbled over and over before a shadow caught her and set her back down gently. The voice piped up.

"_Her soul is saved. But you can still kill her. Do it, now!_"

The witch didn't need telling twice. She raised her hands and shouted in an eldritch language, bringing all the shadows alive at once. They leapt and spun off the floor, off the walls, down from the ceiling, and tore through the air towards Tia like a storm of snakes.

Tia, however, was far from helpless. She spun on the spot and a blast of dazzling light issued from her body, knocking the darkness backwards and sending it tumbling out of the tower like a rain of dust. It caught itself halfway down and spun around the circumference of the structure in hoops, coming back to the top.

The Elf didn't give them time to arrive. She brought her hammer down on the floor; from the point of the impact, a tornado whipped up, throwing around the furniture and other bits and pieces inside the room. When the vortex reached its zenith, it tore the onion-shaped top off the tower and cast it away into the distance, where it exploded in a shower of wood and glass.

Alicianna split apart into shadows that swirled across the ground to avoid being blown away. She rose again, as a shadow with her shape, behind Tia and swung a wreath of darkness at the Elf's head. Tia turned with supernatural quickness, parrying with her hammer, which was now surrounded by a white film of brightness. She repayed Alicianna by swinging the hammer through her body, knocking her into a flurry of blackness.

Alicianna reformed across the room, now unaffected by the wind. Both of them stood in the eye of the storm.

And they they began casting. Each called down elements and powers to their side. Tia expanded the whirlwind around the tower, drawing in streaks of clouds to surround them in what looked like a cotton bubble. Alicianna brought down an unnatural night that darkened the summit, so Tia opened the top of the bubble and let in a beam of blinding light. Alicianna again made the shadows come to life like dirty smoke, and sent them swirling around inside Tia's spindle of wind and cloud. The forces around them, once called, fought and clashed of their own accord.

Alicianna drew a sliver of night into her hand. It twisted and solidified into a black sword.

Without warning, they dashed towards eachother. Then met in the center of the platform. Tia swung her hammer. Alicianna dissipated and reformed behind the Elf again, swinging her sword down. It took Tia in the shoulder, and she shrieked and twisted away, bringing her hammer around in a semicircle. It smashed into Alicianna's head, a blow that would have killed her instantly any other day. This time, it merely sent her rolling.

This was not to be won with weapons.

Alicianna sprang up, leaving her sword where it was on the ground moving as fluidly as a breeze, and with a gesture brought forth a wave of sharpened shadows. Black knives. With another flick of the wrist, they darted towards Tia's neck.

Tia was not helpless to magic. She dropped her hammer, which shattered into purple glass on the floor, and held out both hands, palms facing away from her. Two shields of cloud exploded forth and absorbed the shadow knives, then broke apart and streamed forward at the Witch.

They were blown apart by an umbral bubble of magic.

This was not to be won with magic.

Alicianna jumped up and backwards. She rose into the air unnaturally, arms outstretched at her sides. Black feathers spread from her hands and forearms, forming the shape of dark wings. A spinning pillar of black light surrounded her body, expanding rapidly. Rays of malicious energy burst out around her like a dying sun, searing away the bonds that held shut the realm of the living and the dead together. She was standing on the edge of victory, one step below invincible, about to bring forth the souls of the damned and then use their power to crush the life from all that opposed her.

But someone rose to meet her. Tia. The Elf's eyes were glowing now, brighter than they had ever glowed before. A warm white fire that pierced the night around her. A pillar of pulsing benevolent energy carried her towards the sky, and as she came level with the Witch who was poised to unleash hell, two glowing white lights spread out behind her. They expanded outward, coils of brightness taking the shape of feathers, holy wings to match Alicianna's mockeries.

This was to end with faith.

Tia didn't try her strength against Alicianna. She simply called. She called to all which was holy, sang out with the voice of her spirit to all that was good and divine. She had begun to glimpse the being behind Alicianna's efforts. The thing that sent her his power now. And she knew she could never, no matter how powerful she became, bring him down.

But she knew something that could.

Her prayers were answered. In an instant, her consciousness reached a realm far beyond the physical world. She heard voices speak not into her ears, not into her mind, but into her spirit. Thousands of them, all at once, but somehow she heard each and every one individually. The voices of all the creatures of the light who had come before her. Jaymie, Bellegosa, and even Malax were all there. Tia had not lived a perfect life. Nobody had. But she knew what she truly served and it knew that she belonged to it, too.

"Faith is your shield."

"Justice is your weapon."

"Darkness falls this day."

"You are not alone."

"No one who stands is ever alone."

"We are all beside you."

"Do not be afraid."

"You cannot fail."

It was a moment of divine clarity. For the next few moments, she knew, saw and felt all. She touched absolute bliss. She experienced what it was to be part of the light. The incredible warmth and perfection enveloped her like an ocean. She raised her hand, guided by the thousands of pure presences that stood with her.

It was over in another moment. Blinding light filled her vision. It blasted forward, washing over the tower. The shadows were vanquished in an instant. The unnatural nightmare faded, leaving only the gracefully twisting wind. It washed over Alicianna. And further still. It flooded the link between her and the unspeakable horror using her. It didn't take long to reach it. The mass of darkness and sin that was Airek'Kalun screamed and screamed and screamed as the purity burned into it, punishing it for every crime it had committed. When the light withdrew, the death god was still screaming, maimed and shattered by the force of this bright retribution. _Her_ bright retribution. But she felt no satisfaction; on a normal day, she would have enjoyed its suffering. This day, so possessed by the divine, she could feel only pity for the trapped, twisted god. It was still alive, and it would soon return to normal. And then it would only be more sad and pathetic and above all, an even worse danger to the innocent lives she had to protect.

Alicianna stiffened and froze in mid-air as the Light poured through her. She didn't scream, despite being used as a conduit between a divine force and its target. She too was judged by Tia's light; she had done many horrible things in her life, but her soul was pure at its core. Despite her mistakes, she had always geniunely believed that she was doing the best thing she could, and was burdened by regret and remorse for her failures. The times when she had been too foolish or blind to see the difference between right and wrong. The people that she had felt she had to hurt or kill "for the best." But she was also brave; she had on many occasions risked her own life and sometimes her own spirit to help others in her own dark way. The Light which poured through Tia judged the soul of Alicianna Simmons... and found her innocent.

Regardless, without Airek'Kalun's power, the force of the Light was too much for the girl. When the glow faded, Tia and Alicianna fell back to the floor of the tower. They fell slowly, deliberately. This was symbolic, and gravity had no right to ruin that by rushing things. Alicianna thudded to the floor on her side. Tia landed neatly on her feet.

Tia looked up, eyes returning to their natural blue. The perfection she had felt faded away. Although she wouldn't be able to comprehend it now, she would never truly forget it. Unfortunately, the knowledge of what had been responsible for this had faded away, leaving only an incling of the truth in its place. It was a strange thing. The tornado she'd summoned blew itself apart, sending clouds tumbling over the half-wrecked mansion and the surrounding cliffs. The sky was blue, the sun shining. The scene was altogether unreal.

Alicianna's eyes flickered open. Tia took several steps closer to her.

She examined Tia carefully, then closed her eyes and died. Right there. As she let out a rasping last breath, the souls she had taken mere minutes earlier seperated themselves from her own and swam back to their bodies.

Malax. Bellegosa. Jaymie. Everyone else. They all came back to life before Tia's eyes, and shrugged the debris off themselves, standing up. They looked around, and at her, each other, shocked. They could not remember what had happened. When they saw Alicianna, a few moved towards the body. Tia waved them away. "Leave her."

She beckoned them over to the center of the room, leaving Alicianna's corpse where it was. They were all asking questions at once. She sushed them with a simple raising of the hand. There was something eerily different about Tia now. Nobody tried to talk over her. For a moment, she considered telling them the truth, but decided that they didn't need to know.

"Alicianna knocked you all out with a spell and attacked me. I defeated her with a cyclone spell. She's gone. It's over."

The others nodded, deciding to believe her. They had a shadow of a clue that something was off, but they didn't question. And why should they? All was well.

The shade swirled next to Alicianna's body. Everybody flinched and went for a weapon. The figure of Delano Darkbane materialized and knelt to examine her.

Tia stopped her allies from charging forward with a mere word. "Stop."

Delano looked at her questioningly.

"Take her. This is over."

And he did. He picked up Alicianna's body and faded away again, nodding his thanks as he went.

Tia smiled. It wouldn't take long to re-establish order and repair Steamwatch. Despite all, Tiariana Cloudweaver was still standing, triumphant and victorious. But something was missing. She had a vague feeling it wouldn't be for long, though...

As it happened, she was right. A small, frantically flapping shape appeared on the horizon. It approached with absurd speed. She subtlely strengthened the wind to hurry things up. As it approached the tower, the hawk began to change, wings expanding, body contorting. By the time it landed, it was no longer a bird, but Falcar Skystrider. He ran towards Tia, nearly tripped over the debris in his relief.

"Oh, Tia! Tia, are you alright? I heard the town was under attack. I thought-"

She shut him up by jumping into his waiting arms. Everyone grinned. Some giggled. Everything was right at last.

_**~oOo~**_

Somewhere else, Alicianna was still conscious.

She was still trying to accurately put together what had just happened. She was floating in an infinite silver void. White mist, which had no temperature, but simply was, floated around her. This abyss was limbo. It stretched forever in all directions, the monotony broken by large, floating pieces of stone masonry, empty coffins, floating gravestones and circular platforms. Down below, a white river rushed soundlessly on.

She was wearing comfortable white clothing. A shirt. A cloak. Trousers. White gloves and shoes. She tumbled weightlessly, strangely in control of her momentum yet also spinning without direction. She liked this place, strangely. It was peaceful, if a bit dreary. There were others here, exploring the mist. She glimpsed them as the odd streak of ghostlight in the distance.

Alicianna had a touch of foresight. She could see fragmented glimpses of the future. It was closer to having a notion of what might happen and when than actually seeing the paths that things could potentially take. But she knew more than that at this moment.

It wasn't over. This was her time, but it wasn't her first time and it wouldn't be her last. She wasn't fully done with the world of the living and she never would be until she found a place in the Light or the Dark. Limbo was just a space between realms, not a final destination.

She just needed to wait for the right time. Alicianna had always been a great believer in fate and faith. If she simply floated around in this timeless, placeless, formless world, then eventually the next step would reveal itself. Meanwhile, she very much wanted to find a few shades who richly deserved a word with her.

One such shade found her even as she thought so. He wasn't there one minute, but then he was. Things were odd like that in limbo.

Gone were the rusty, red armour plates, the pasty white skin, the glowing eyes of undeath, and the vicious runeblades. The ghost of Lorcan Oltoir looked a bit like it had before he had died in Lordaeron. Vibrant red hair that was a few inches off his shoulders. Healthy skin. Amber eyes. But unlike he ever had in life, he was wearing pale white armour. When he spoke, the rusty, reverberating tones of a dead voice were replaced with the deep growl he'd had before his death.

"So, you died too. How did it happen?"

"I'm not sure, Lorcan. The Empress was possessed by something that shattered me in the blink of an eye. It all happened so fast."

Lorcan nodded.

"I was slain by three Paladins. I've been here for almost an hour. Where do we go from here?"

Alicianna smiled to herself. Lorcan was a bit like her. Always looking for the next direction, always seeking another task to complete.

"I am not sure, but this isn't where it ends. Limbo is a crossroads. I intend to wait until the way reveals itself. Until then, who knows who else might be here? Go and search. See if you can find someone."

Lorcan nodded, grinning.

"I thought the same. Perhaps my dear is around here somewhere, or some other members of my family. Perhaps I can even find that San'Layn wretch out there and give it a richly deserved bollocking."

Alicianna laughed at that. The laughter bounced away and then echoed back off the floating blocks and stone chunks swimming in the mist.

Death really wasn't too bad. How could anybody be afraid of a break like this!


End file.
